Search Engine Friendly

[ihelpyou]

Hi!

Many forums do not use a question mark(?) in the query string for the threads.

There is a way to do this for php boards but I have no idea how. I searched the hacks here and could not find any. One hack mentioned about putting files in an archive, etc. This is not what I want.

The actual posts and replies could have the ? mark taken out of them. I need someone to explain to me step by step on how to do this.

I found this thread in another forum:
http://www.sitepointforums.com/showthread.php?threadid=22697

This can be done on VBulletin. I did not understand what the thread was saying. I am no programmer so I need a step by step kinda thing.

The search engines will NOT spider or index strings with a ? in them.

There is an easy fix.

Thanks all!

<added>I just purchased VB and it looks great! Now waiting for new version today to install</added>

[Overgrow]

My hack does not put things in an archive, it uses the database. It will do what you require-- allow your posts to be spidered-- and it does not create any additional files.

Otherwise you need to add query string parsing to the global.php file and then change every single link in every single template to reflect this. Search for posts by W.Luke, he is doing this now with Sitepoint (heh fun..).

[ihelpyou]

Yes, I know what yours is doing.

The problem is that the spiders do NOT LIKE a page with nothing but a bunch of links on them.

They might follow the links but they Will penalize sites that do this.

They call these types of pages "doorways".

What does sitepointforums mean by what is posted in the thread? Please spell it out for me as I am an idiot on programming issues.

Know about the search engines though. :)

Thanks!

[Wayne Luke]

Not every link... Just the ones you want the search engines to track. This includes forumhome and forumdisplay. Possibly the page navigation on the different threads. Haven't decided yet.

I don't want the rest in the search engines.

[ihelpyou]

hey w luke,

Please explain the steps to me about what you are doing. Or, if you have detailed instructions somewhere?

[Overgrow]

Even if you do what W.Luke is doing, the spider STILL needs a way to find your old posts. Changing the query string is great for your current posts, but what if you have archives going back years? You still have to let the spider find them somehow, unless you can teach them to use your search engine?

>>The search engines will NOT spider or index strings with a ? in them.

Sorry, but this is not true. Google has been able to go through ? strings for quite a while, I have many ? pages indexed by Google. And since they also serve Yahoo, it makes them arguably the most important spider.

I wrote spiderFriend because Google needs a way to find the old posts, not just crawl the current ones... and the spiderFriend pages have much better keyword density and prominence than something from showthread.

[ihelpyou]

Yes, I know Google does index them.

None of this helps me since I have no clue how to implement what you both are talking about.

Is there anywhere that has a detailed instruction on any of this?

Please explain how you do this.
Thanks!

[ihelpyou]

BTW,

Since I have not installed the board yet, I have no archives so wluke's way might be better for me.

Google comes around frequently to spider so there might not be any need to use the archive way.

Where is documentation on changing the current posts Urls?

[Wayne Luke]

For you the easiest way would most likely be what is described in this thread... As long as you have the proper software installed.

http://vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17167


I also don't have any sort of archives but Overgrow has a point. You would have to set the forums to display all posts for the spiders to view them through the thread listings.

[ihelpyou]

That thread looks promising.
Thanks!

[ihelpyou]

Hi all,

Quick update for you. Google has gobbled up ALL the pages in my forum upon implementing the script referenced in this thread. 295 pages so far as of the date of 6-28. Check it out here:

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22%2Bwww.ihelpyouservices.%2Bcom/forums/%22&hl=en&safe=off&filter=0

Amazing! :)